


Stop Making Scents

by RebaK1tten



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Masturbation, Olfactophilia, Stealing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 03:10:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebaK1tten/pseuds/RebaK1tten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer has a strange way of showing he has a crush on Dave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Making Scents

It’s a terrible thing to do, a sick, sick thing.  Spencer knows this, but he just can’t stop himself.  If his coworkers found out…he just can’t imagine.   The best scenario would be that he’d be ridiculed or transferred or at least sent to see a doctor, which actually should be in the worst case category.  Official worst case, he’d be fired. 

It started as an accident and that is absolutely true.   They’re on a case in Wyoming, outside of Laramie.  The case itself isn’t too bad, but since it’s an alumni weekend at the university, they’re farther than usual from the sheriff’s office, all packed in a small, cramped hotel.   They’ve shared hotel rooms before and Spencer ends up with Dave.  Which is fine; actually it’s good to room with Dave.  Rooming with Hotch is never comfortable, even after hours, he’s the boss.  It’s hard to relax around him, and his afterhours clothes means he takes off his suit jacket and tie.   People joke that he sleeps in a suit, and while that isn’t true, he does seem to keep an air of formality even after hours.

And it’s not always comfortable rooming with Morgan, either.  Morgan is extremely comfortable with his body.  Extremely.  And spends most of his free time in the hotel room walking around in just his boxers.   And while Spencer expected Hotch to be neat, Morgan is fanatical about having everything just perfectly so.  His clothes folded or hung up; everything in the bathroom is neat and organized.  Spencer thinks he’s tidy, but sometimes he ends up with a stack of used clothes to be put into his laundry bag and he can see how it upsets and puzzles Morgan. 

Dave, on the other hand – Dave almost always wears jeans and in the hotel, he’ll change into a sweat shirt or some soft sweater that Spencer is sure costs as much as most people’s car payments.  His clothes usually make it into his laundry bag, but he doesn’t seem to freak out about it if it takes more than thirty minutes.   And he wears pajamas and travels with a bathrobe, but doesn’t seem to mind Spencer sleeping in a ratty Cal-Tech t-shirt and boxers. 

So rooming with Dave is good; easy and relaxing.  Their case is solved after just three days, but because their pilot is exhausted and the distance to the airport and the late hour, they have one more night in the hotel and the plane will be there early in the morning.  On check-out morning Dave and Spencer are rushed at the last minute to get to the lobby before Hotch phones again and Spencer takes a last look around the room and notices that Dave left a tie on the back of a the desk chair.  He wore it when he and JJ went to talk with the families of two of the victims.  They’re both good at that sort of thing, much better than Spencer; sympathetic, but obviously driven to solve the case and bring the killers to justice and families like them.  So Spencer grabs the tie and shoves it in his jacket pocket to give to him later.  No big deal, something you do for a friend. 

There’s no room to give it to him in the SUV, with the suitcases in the back.  And since Dave’s suitcases are in the overhead on the plane, he doesn’t return it then.  It was an honest oversight, really, taking the tie home with him.   Spencer finds it when he’s hanging up his jacket and thinks he’ll put it on the table by the front door so he’ll remember to take to work the next day. 

It’s a really nice tie and Spencer is fond of nice ties.  Dave’s tie, of course, is obviously much nicer than any that Spencer has, and smells faintly of Dave’s cologne, something masculine and expensive.   And of Dave.  Spencer realizes that he’s carried it to his bedroom and he wraps it around his neck while he undresses for bed.  He can’t say that there’s a good reason, it’s not like it’s even something he decided to do.  Like he doesn’t remember making a decision to lie on his bed and it’s not really a conscious decision to jerk off.  It’s just the end of a few stressful days and it’s a physical reaction.  Later he thinks it might be a little wrong to think about Dave while stroking his cock, and dragging Dave’s tie over his chest.  At the end, with pictures of Dave flashing through his head, he rubs the tie across his nipples and buries his nose in it, sniffing deeply as he comes.

He keeps the tie.

While picking up the tie was an accident, taking one of Dave’s t-shirts was not.  This time, they’re on a case in LA and Hotch announces the room sharing is a required cost-cutting measure.  Spencer is about to say that he’ll room with Morgan when Dave snags a key from the desk, grabs Spencer’s elbow and announces, “So you’re with me, Doc.”

Spencer’s dated more than the team thinks, but mostly first and second dates.  A lot of times, it’s due to his schedule, but it’s also because of the awkwardness of being a genius and FBI agent.  It gets creepy when he’s on a second date and asked about the most grisly case he’s worked on or the ever popular, “Can I see your gun?” 

He went out with one of Will’s coworkers for almost two months.  It seemed like it would be a good match, and it was for a time, but Ron was a sports fan and Spencer ended up spending weekends pretending to watch basketball and then hockey.  With the prospects of baseball and football to follow, he called it off.

He can talk with Dave and rooming with him isn’t bad at all.  They don’t have a lot of time alone in the hotel room, but when they do they watch one of the science or nature shows on PBS.  And talk about a variety of things, including museums that they both like or the free Opera in the Park concerts that Spencer’s gone to.  Dave goes to the Kennedy Center and mentions that he needs to invite Spencer now that he knows he’s a fan.  Spencer’s pretty sure it’s one of those polite things that people say without meaning it, even though Dave’s never struck him as that type of person. But it’s nice that they can talk.

The second night in the hotel, they get back late and Spencer says he’ll use the bathroom quickly so Dave can take a shower.   By the time he gets out, Dave’s undressed and in his robe, ready to use the bathroom himself.  When he does, Spencer quickly goes into his laundry bag and takes a t-shirt.  He’s no longer sure if it’s the stealing (because honestly, that’s what he’s doing) or that it’s Dave’s that gets him so excited, but he holds the shirt to his face and inhales deeply, feeling his cock stir in his pants.  This cannot happen, not with Dave in the other room.  Bad enough to be stealing his clothes, let alone be caught doing anything else. 

When he hears the water stop in the shower, Spencer shoves the shirt into the bottom of his bag and jumps under the covers to hide evidence of his new hobby.

“You okay, Reid?” Dave asks, coming out of the bathroom, robe back on looking much more respectable than he does in Spencer’s head.

“Umm, yeah, Dave.   Just a little cold,” Spencer replies, squirming further under the covers.

“Hmm, you look a little flushed.”  Dave comes over and studies him, and puts the back of his chilly hand on Spencer’s forehead, causing Spencer to jump.  “Maybe you should take a hot shower and a couple of Tylenol and then get to sleep?”

“I’m okay, thanks, Dave.  Maybe just the Tylenol, if you’re sure you don’t mind?”

When Dave leaves the room to get the pills and a glass of water, Spencer tries to think himself calmer – his mother, dead bodies, autopsies, visits with a counselor…  By the time Dave’s back, Spencer’s has his body back under control, and smiling slightly he gratefully takes the offered pills.  Then he ducks under the covers and tries not to think about how nice Dave is and how nice Dave smells and wondering how he ended up doing things that are so pathetic.

Back at home, Spencer keeps Dave’s shirt with his tie in a plastic bag to try to keep the smell in as long as possible.  Of course they’re out of the bag and in his bed a few times, although he does try not to over use them so he can keep the ‘Dave-smell’ going. 

The next time they’re rooming together, Spencer swears that he won’t take anything and won’t touch anything.   That lasts for five days and after that, Spencer finds himself alone in the shared bathroom.   Dave is at the station, as they’re sleeping in shifts so that someone is always available for the LEOs if anything happens.   Spencer’s trying to wake up after his three hours of sleep, in the bathroom waiting for the shower to heat up and sees Dave’s bottle of cologne.  C for Men -  Spencer’s seen it before and he’s smelled it many, many times.  He picks up the nearly empty bottle and sniffs.  Spencer can’t really explain it, but when Morgan wears cologne, he smells like cologne.  Dave’s cologne just smells like Dave.  Spencer doesn’t usually wear any scents – unless they’ve been on a case for too long and he can’t get to a hotel to shower and change, then he might put on something, usually rubbing some free sample scents from a discarded magazine.   Before he can talk himself out of it he takes the bottle, wraps it in a dirty shirt and puts it in his laundry bag. 

Back at home, he feels incredibly guilty, but that doesn’t stop him from placing the bottle on a shelf by itself in the nearly empty medicine cabinet.  The tie and shirt and still kept separately, because while he can smell Dave’s cologne on them both, they also still have a little of whiff of Dave’s smell, too.  The thing that makes him know how wrong this is (other than the obvious stealing part of course) is that he remembers feeling this sneaky when he was addicted.  Guilty and unable to stop himself from continuing to do the self-destructive things.

Not so guilty that he doesn’t enjoy his treasures, Dave’s shirt over his face and his tie wrapped around his dick, while he strokes himself until it’s almost painful, but fast and so intense.  Yeah, shame can do that to you.

He’s not expecting company, so when the doorbell to his apartment rings, he’s started and stumbles to see who it is.  Oh shit, it’s Dave.

“Hi, Spencer, hope you don’t mind my dropping by,” Dave says, shouldering his way into the apartment.  He hasn’t been there before and looks around, openly curious. 

“Sure, Dave, come on in.  Everything okay?  Do you want to sit down?” he asks, gesturing to the small table in the kitchen.

“Yeah, please,” Dave says and moves to the couch.  He gestures for Spencer to sit in the chair kitty-corner from him and then pulls a small bag from his pocket and puts it on the table.  “Open it,” he commands.

Spencer gulps and takes the bag.  Inside is a bottle of C for Men, the same size as the one Spencer liberated a couple of weeks earlier.  Spencer looks up, feeling his face turn red and his pulse seems extra loud in his ears.  He looks silently at Dave.

“Look, Spencer.  I have no idea what’s going on with you.  You like the cologne, that’s great.  You could have told me, it’s not a big deal at all.  So how about, we swap?  I give you this nice full bottle of cologne and you return my watch.” 

“Dave…” Spencer sputters, “Dave, I swear I didn’t take your watch!”  _No, I steal much less valuable things,_ he thinks.

Dave looks at him carefully.  “Silver and black Cartier?  You’re sure you didn’t accidentally put it in your pocket?  Goes well with my tie?”

Spencer covers his face with his hands, shaking his head.  “No, I swear I didn’t!  When did you have it last?”

“Well, shit.  I have no idea.  I hope I didn’t leave it in a hotel someplace.”  Dave rubs his goatee and looks at Spencer with interest.  “So what’s with you anyway, Spencer?  The tie, I wasn’t sure, it was a guess and based on your face, I got it right.  And the cologne?”

He shrugs and when he talks, his voice comes out quiet and pathetic to his own ears.  “I like it?  I’m really sorry about the tie and the cologne.  I just … like how you smell.”  He jumps up and paces around the small living room, noting Dave’s following his movement.  “I’ll request a transfer tomorrow, Dave.  I’m sorry, I’m… I have no excuse.”

“Don’t be silly, you don’t have to transfer.  I guess I’m just a little surprised.  You like how I smell?”  Dave asks and tilts his head down, taking a small sniff towards his armpit. 

He doesn’t mean to, but a small squeak escapes before Spencer can stop himself.  Dave, of course, notices and jerks his head up, studying him.  “Oh… so it’s like that?  Wow, color me surprised.”

“I’m sorry, Dave.  Like I said, I’ll transfer out.  I want to transfer out.  I’ll do whatever you want, I’m so sorry.”  If it were possible for the sofa to swallow him, now would be a good time.

“Transferring is still extreme.  Coffee?  How about some coffee?” Dave asks.

Spencer stares for a second, it seems a bit of a bizarre request, much too easy for what he’s done.  “Sure, Dave.  I just made some.”  He goes into the kitchen and while he reaches for a mug, he hears Dave behind him, getting milk out of the fridge.  He’s way too close and dammit, he does smell good.

“So you’re taking my stuff because you like how I smell?  Just that or do you actually like _me_?”

“Both?” Spencer says, shrugging as he puts the mug on the counter next to Dave.  “I’m sorry, I just…”

“Stop apologizing, you’re ruining it.” Dave smiles smugly while pouring milk into his coffee.  “It’s not often that attractive younger men tell me they like me like that.”

“You’re not upset?  I mean, it’s got to be a little weird.  Or maybe you’re used to it, I know you have groupies from your books, so maybe? Although I’m not a groupie…”

“You’re overthinking again.  And why would I be upset?  Maybe you have a little crush?  I can live with that.  You’re not unattractive, Spencer.”  Dave sips his coffee and acts like he didn’t say something that has Spencer’s head swimming.

“You think I’m attractive?” he asks, surprised when Dave nods.  “But, you’ve been married three times, so I didn’t think you found men attractive.  Or not that kind of attractive.  Or maybe it’s not that kind of attractive and I should shut up?”

Dave sighs and shakes his head.  “Yes, Spencer, that kind of attractive.  You can find men attractive and women attractive.  It’s not always mutually exclusive.”

“Oh.  You’re bisexual then?” Spencer asks, and pulls out a chair at the kitchen table where Dave’s sat.  This is suddenly very interesting.

Dave shrugs.  “I don’t know, I guess I’m not a fan of labels.  I’m attracted to people, not just parts of people.  You’re attractive.  You’re interesting and funny and quirky and not nearly as annoying as I originally thought.  I like you, even if you do have kleptomaniac tendencies.”

“I’m so sorry, Dave, I really don’t know what I was thinking." He stops himself before he's completely babbling and embarrassing himself again.

“Spencer, it’s fine.  So maybe some Sunday we can do one of those concerts in the park you talked about?”

“Yeah!  Yes, that would be great, I’ll check the calendar online and we’ll go.  Great,” he says, smiling, and relaxing for the first time since Dave came over.  “And for your watch?  I was thinking that when we were in Missouri a few weeks ago and you got blood on your clothes and had to change your shirt?  Did you maybe put your watch in a pocket?”

“Yes!”  Dave exclaims, pointing at him.  “Or at least maybe.  I think I had my black coat and I haven’t worn it since.   I’ll check, come on let’s go.”

“Really?  Now?” 

“Yeah, now.  Spencer, it’s an $8,000 watch,” Dave says, pulling out his keys and going to the front door.

“Wow, you do know you could get about 200 regular watches, right?”   Spencer pushes him out the door, locking it behind them.  “Come on, let’s go.  And I’m definitely keeping the cologne.”


End file.
